of all the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, which numbered
▼

▼
The words “which numbered” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

four hundred thousand sword-wielding foot soldiers. 3 The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. Then the Israelites said, “Explain how this wicked thing happened!” 4 The Levite,
▼

▼
As the lot dictates. The Israelite soldiers intended to cast lots to determine which tribe would lead the battle charge (see v. 18).

10 We will take ten of every group of a hundred men from all the tribes of Israel (and a hundred of every group of a thousand, and a thousand of every group of ten thousand) to get supplies for the army.
▼

and once more arranged their battle lines, in the same place where they had taken their positions the day before. 23 The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening. They asked the Lord, “Should we
▼

▼
Verses 33–36a give a condensed account of the battle from this point on, while vv. 36b–48 offer a more detailed version of how the ambush contributed to Gibeah’s defeat.

All the men of Israel got up from their places and took their positions at Baal Tamar, while the Israelites hiding in ambush jumped out of their places west of Gibeah. 34 Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah – the battle was fierce.
▼

▼
The words “they struck down” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

about thirty men. They said, “There’s no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle.” 40 But when the signal, a pillar of smoke, began to rise up from the city, the Benjaminites turned around and saw the whole city going up in a cloud of smoke that rose high into the sky.
▼

▼
Heb “Benjamin turned after him and, look, the whole city went up toward the sky.”

▼
Heb “unto the opposite of Gibeah toward the east.” Gibeah cannot be correct here, since the Benjaminites retreated from there toward the desert and Rimmon (see v. 45). A slight emendation yields the reading “Geba.”

all the way to Gidom and struck down two thousand more. 46 That day twenty-five thousand
▼

▼
The number given here (twenty-five thousand sword-wielding Benjaminites) is an approximate figure; v. 35 gives the more exact number (25,100). According to v. 15, the Benjaminite army numbered 26,700 (26,000 + 700). The figures in vv. 35 (rounded in vv. 44–46) and 47 add up to 25,700. What happened to the other 1,000 men? The most reasonable explanation is that they were killed during the first two days of fighting. G. F. Moore (Judges [ICC], 429) and C. F. Burney (Judges, 475) reject this proposal, arguing that the narrator is too precise and concerned about details to omit such a fact. However, the account of the first two days’ fighting emphasizes Israel’s humiliating defeat. To speak of Benjaminite casualties would diminish the literary effect. In vv. 35, 44–47 the narrator’s emphasis is the devastating defeat that Benjamin experienced on this final day of battle. To mention the earlier days’ casualties at this point is irrelevant to his literary purpose. He allows readers who happen to be concerned with such details to draw conclusions for themselves.

sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors.
▼

▼
Heb “So all the ones who fell from Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men, wielding the sword, in that day, all of these men of strength.

47 Six hundred survivors turned and ran away to the wilderness, to the cliff of Rimmon. They stayed there four months. 48 The Israelites returned to the Benjaminite towns
▼

▼
The translation is based on the reading מֵעִיר מְתִים (me’ir metim, “from a city of men,” i.e., “an inhabited city”), rather than the reading מֵעִיר מְתֹם (me’ir metom, “from a city of soundness”) found in the Leningrad Codex (L).

the animals, and everything they could find. They set fire to every city in their path.
▼

You can mix most searches. This finds any word translated as 'throne' in the Prophets and the New Testament, but only in verses concerning the topic 'David'. This excludes verses which refer to a 'throne' in other contexts.